Rockefeller Barons and Carnegies of Industry?

In class recently, we have decided to take an unorthodox approach in preparing for finals week. Instead of taking a teacher made test or writing essays, we will be making the final ourselves. In order to do this, each week there will be a newly assigned topic introduced. With this topic, we will first watch introductory videos, then read both primary and secondary sources. After gaining a firm understanding, we will make an essential question for the unit to be answered in a blog post. Then, we will make 40 multiple choice questions based on the topic to be put onto the final. This week, the topic we learned about was Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller with the essential question: Were Carnegie and Rockefeller robber barons or captains of industry? Overall, while the lines may be somewhat blurred, it is fair to say that both had a fairly positive impact and should be considered captains of industry. 

While robber barons are seen as corrupt and greedy in creating monopolies and not caring about the consumer, captains of industry are viewed as positively advancing the economy. Carnegie and Rockefeller both did a lot to push forward their economy, and were part of a period of industrial growth from the years 1865-1900. Undoubtedly, both were of exorbitant wealth; Rockefeller peaked at $900 million, which was more than the entire federal budget, while Carnegie made $480 million in the sale of his steel company, a deal worth $310 billion today. Even so, the fact that they are captains of industry does not solely refer to their affluence, but also how they used/what they did with what they earned. Under leadership from Rockefeller, the oil industry made great bounds, as did the steel industry with Carnegie. Additionally, the two helped struggling consumers as Rockefeller lowered oil costs and Carnegie developed a process for higher quality steel at lower cost. Also, on a separate note, both were very charitable individuals; Rockefeller donated millions of dollars to the advancement of education and the sciences while Carnegie also funded education as well as libraries. Even with all of these positive qualities, however, the two were not without a few downfalls. Rockefeller was suspected of using illegal tactics and immoral business practices, such as bribing politicians. Carnegie, on the other hand, invested the majority of his fortune in the production of steel during the depression of the 1890’s; instead, he could have invested in people and other things that would have helped the growing depression. Nonetheless, these are simply a few small flaws among many great actions and honorable decisions made by these businessmen, and they shouldn’t discount the good deeds they committed or hurt their respectable images.

In today’s world, perhaps the most similar person to Rockefeller or Carnegie is the current richest person in the world, Bill Gates. As the founder of Microsoft, Gates has a net worth of $79.2 billion; while this pales in comparison to the earnings of Carnegie or Rockefeller, it is much more difficult to earn those (adjusted) numbers in modern times. Anyhow, Gates should also be considered a captain of industry rather than a robber baron. He is an extremely charitable individual who contributes to the fights against diseases of all forms, from malaria to STDs. In his lifetime, he has donated a whopping total of over $36 billion. Like Carnegie and Rockefeller had, Gates uses his money to make good change rather than bad.